More About Sudan

Located 25 minutes outside of the
West Darfur capital of El Geneina, the school serves children who were forced
to flee their homes with their families and seek refuge in Ardamata
camp for internally displaced people (IDP).

Life in Darfur's IDP camps can be
oppressive. Opportunities to grow
food or earn money are almost nonexistent, forcing camp residents to rely
heavily on outside aid. Tensions can also run high with permanent residents who
may resent services being provided to displaced Darfuris living in camps and
not to all people living in the surrounding community. At times, the crowded,
transient conditions lead to crime and violence, with displaced families having
little protection.

Displaced students Daresalaam Abakar Adam and Asha Mohamed are thankful to be in school, even though their temporary classrooms were in tatters at the start of the new term. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

Ardamata is one of the better
camps in West Darfur. Its location outside the town center does make it more difficult
for camp residents to earn a living, because markets are farther away and few
employers seek day laborers in the area. But the more remote location means
more space is available. Each family has sufficient room to build a traditional
hut or two in its small compound, with thatched fences separating each plot.

Shreds of Hope

At the center of the camp is a
place of hope: Ardamata IDP School. Some of the residents of Ardamata camp
never attended school in their former villages. Others are thrilled to continue
their education even as their lives are turned upside down.

"I'm happy because now I know
how to read and write and tell the difference between good and bad," says
Asha Mohamed, a 30-year-old sixth-grade student who started school for the
first time five years ago, having nothing else to do when she arrived at the
camp. Her 12-year-old son also attends Ardamata IDP School and will be entering
seventh grade this year.

More than 1,000 children crowd
into the school's 17 classrooms—with each class having anywhere from 50 to 100 girls
or boys. The kids don't mind sitting shoulder to shoulder on mats as there is
no room or money for benches, much less desks. They're even willing to share
each textbook among four or five students. But when school opened this term, they
had no protection from the sun, wind or occasional swirling sand because their
classrooms' thatched walls were hanging in shreds around them.

"School is opening, but there
are still problems with the classrooms," notes Yusif Haroun Adam, the
acting head of the parent-teacher association for Ardamata IDP school. "They
are very crowded classrooms, and we have no materials to fix them. School is
going good, but we would like permanent classrooms."

Ardamata IDP School, like many
others serving displaced students in Darfur, is a temporary school expected to
be disbanded when peace allows camp residents to return home. For this reason, classrooms at these schools are
constructed with simple poles and walls of woven grass thatch instead of more permanent concrete. Creating plenty of headaches, the thatch walls
require replacement each season after wind, wear and hungry donkeys reduce them
to tatters.

PTA members, teachers, students and CRS staff gather at Ardamata IDP School to discuss educational concerns. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

In recent weeks, the Ministry of
Education has been working with UNICEF and aid agencies including Catholic
Relief Services to help refurbish temporary classrooms across El Geneina. It
will take some time, though, to collect the materials required for the necessary repairs.

Helping More Than 32,400 Students Receive an Education

Since 2005, CRS' education
team has supported more than 65 schools in West Darfur. Key activities have
included:

building more than 385 classrooms

training volunteer teachers

organizing and supporting PTAs

building kitchens and storage rooms so schools
can participate in World Food Program's school feeding initiative

providing water tanks and simple hand-washing stands

training students and cooks in good hygiene

teaching cooks to build industrial-sized fuel-efficient stoves

These efforts have helped more
than 32,400 students in West Darfur to receive an education.

"Sitting mats are better than
benches or desks because it's too crowded. If you are in the first rows, you
can hear well, but not if you're at the back," explains 16-year-old
student Daresalaam Abakar Adam, who will be in the sixth-grade class with Asha
and 72 other girls. "I want to learn. It's important I get knowledge."

For now, displaced children in
Darfur will attend school in the open air, shielding their eyes from the sun
and sand. But at least they will learn. And they'll continue to dream of better
futures.

Debbie DeVoe is CRS' regional
information officer for eastern and southern Africa. She recently met with the
PTA and students of Ardamata IDP School.